Orange with 6Medias, published on Saturday, May 07, 2022 at 10:28 am
British media The Independent reports that a plane had to turn back following 40 minutes on a flight from London to New York on Monday (May 2) when the crew realized the co-pilot had not completed his training .
A plane was forced to turn around following forty minutes on a trip from London to New York on Monday, May 2, says Slate, taking up information from the British media The Independent. And for good reason: the co-pilot had not completed his training. More specifically, he had not made the final evaluation flight, supposed to seal and validate his pilot training, according to the rules enacted by the company Virgin Atlantic.
While the British company’s Airbus A330 was flying over Ireland, the error was noticed by the crew, who immediately decided to turn around to reach the tarmac at Heathrow, from which they had just taken off.
After a time of painstaking searching, another experienced co-pilot was found and allowed the flight to resume, eventually landing three hours late in New York.
Just a precautionary measure?
A spokesperson for the Virgin Atlantic company, for its part, assured The Independent that the two pilots who initially made the trip were indeed authorized to ensure this flight. The last-minute replacement and the U-turn operated by the plane would therefore only have been due to the airline’s desire to respect its internal protocol. The latter therefore asserts that the safety of the passengers has not been compromised. The Guardian explains for its part that the pilot began his career in 2017 and that the regulations in force in the United Kingdom did indeed authorize him to travel.
Slate recalls that this flight is not the first to have been forced to turn around for unusual reasons. The site mentions in particular the case of planes forced to backtrack due to childbirth, a toilet smell too strong to make the trip, or even travelers refusing to respect the health rules required on the plane.
